CHAPTER TEN

"So why do I have to be the one that has to be hooked up to the machine like this?" Zack's eyes shifted back and forth as a bunch of electrodes were placed on his temples and on his chest. "I mean, Cody's the one that understands how all of this works." He reached out, pointing towards his twin brother, who sat at the back of the room with the rest of his friends, watching intently. "Why not get him to do it?"

"For the reason that you just said, Zack," Julius replied. He moved back from Zack's side, holding onto a few more electrodes. At his side, Maddie was holding onto a metal tray that held a single syringe as well. His lips curled in the corner. "Cody understands what this is meant for and will be of better help to us if something goes wrong."

Zack's eyes widened. "What do you mean if something goes wrong?"

"Like, your head blows up," Patrick commented. "Or your have an allergic reaction to the drugs in the syringe. Or you become so paranoid that you start to attack us with your powers." He shrugged. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, mate, but we have to think of all of the possible outcomes."

"Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

Julius rolled his eyes and continued to stick the rest of the electrodes to Zack's chest, stomach, and arms before placing what appeared to be a chip clip onto his finger. As Zack continued to take steady breaths, the machine that was set up to monitor his heart beat started to rhythmically increase and decrease the beeping that resonated.

"Relax, Zack," Maddie said gently. She picked up the syringe and carefully flicked the tip before glancing over at Diamond and Christian, who sat by computers, watching them intently. "This is just going to make you calm down. It's not going to hurt you or anything." She moved it close to his arm. "It's just going to make sure that you don't accidentally hurt us."

"OK." Zack nodded.

Maddie pricked his skin and gently slid the needle into his arm, and pushed the plunger down, allowing the medicine to fall into his system. Zack's eyelashes fluttered and his breathing become steady, his heart beat slowing down as he did so. Maddie nodded to Julius, who took the syringe and metal plate from her. He walked back over to his uncle and stood behind him, hands on the back of his chair.

"Do you think this is going to work?" He asked.

Christian tilted his head over to Sydney and Aaron, who both held onto clipboard. "Ask them, they were the ones that got the idea."

"Bailey helped," Aaron said honestly. "And while it was something that we already should have done, it just brings up a theory." He turned around so that he could face all of the elementals. "Dad, Kristen, Reed, Renee, and Core have all faced this before. They've researched elementals and have faced so much about it before, the information they gathered all being stored in Crystal's computer."

"Yeah," Noah said, resting his hand on his hip. He flicked hi long hair from his face. "It's been something that's helped a lot." He crossed his arms. "Even when we couldn't find anything in Dad's office while we were back in Oz."

Sydney held up a finger. "Ever think that was done on purpose?" He smirked when his siblings exchanged glances. "Apparently not." He cleared his throat. "We all know that our Dad was really famous in the scientific world back in Australia, hence why people knew our family so well. He had a lot of essays and dissertations and publications and awards and yet, no one batted an eye when Mum became a teacher."

"So, then I thought about Dad and Kristen," Aaron continued. "Same idea. At first Kristen worked as Dad's assistant before she went on to do her own thing and Dad went into the limelight while Kristen decided to stay out of the limelight. Thus making Core, Dad, and Reed a target. But a target of what exactly?"

Sydney took up the story again. "We were told by Zhane that Halo Syndicate was what had gone after them, putting the bombs in our house and in Aunt Kristen's car. But, at the time, Zhane was being taken over by Gattaca, though we know that Gattaca is a good person. What if Gattaca wasn't really the one that had taken him over? What if it was something they had encountered before and traversed through worlds to get back at them?"

Christian made a yelping sound then moved a hand over his mouth as all eyes turned to him. There was a look of pure shock and terror in his blue eyes. As he continued to sit there, he started to tremble before shaking his head then running both hands over his face.

"Daddy?" Crystal moved to her father's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you OK?"

"I'm sure the fact that all of this was linked together isn't helping much," Sydney said with an expression of sympathy. He was chewing his bottom lip, shuffling his feet. Glancing over at his siblings, he could see they had nearly the same reaction that Christian had. Their expressions ranged from apathy, to pure fury, to sadness. Even he could feel a tidal wave of depression start to creep its way through his body but he refused to think about it.

In fact, he tried his hardest not to have what happened to his parents infiltrate his thoughts too much. In a way, he was lucky that he hadn't gotten to know them before they had passed. It didn't hurt as much, sure he had to grow up really fast, he relied his on his brothers and sisters more than any other person would to their siblings, and the lack of parental guidance showed up every once in a while. At least it didn't hurt too much.

/You know that's not true/ SpiritSaru denied. /You care just as much as they do, if not more, because of that very reason. /

/Yeah, but it's not going to do me any good by dwelling on it/ Sydney replied. /Especially when feelings like that do nothing but give our darkness a greater chance of growing/.

"Which brought us back to our prophecy," Aaron said.

"Wait a minute." Cody held up a hand. He motioned back and forth between himself and his twin brother. "I thought we had fulfilled the prophecy with the fight against Mother Nature," He said. "When we had used the Element stones to give to me and Zack, when we made the sword of light." He then recited it from memory, "The one with the eyes red as fire, the one with the eyes shocking as sea, the ones whose inheritance the white pure blade. To voyage eighteen years from since they'd come, or the world in their hands would cease to become."

"Didn't it have to do with Zack's and Cody's eighteenth birthday?" Tapeworm questioned. "It makes the most sense, they just turned, the created the white blade."

"No one ever said that it had to do with their eighteenth birthday," Aaron pointed out gently. "Just that I had to be eighteen years later."

"So it might have to do with around the time they were born in general, yeah?" Riley said. She pushed herself off the wall she had been resting against, next to Tapeworm, and glanced at him before zeroing in on her baby brother. "Does it mean eighteen years after Mum's and Dad's first interaction with elementals in general?"

Sydney nodded. "I'd say so." He pointed at Christian and then at Crystal, who continued to comfort her father, rubbing his back and shoulders as she laid her head on his. He sat in what resembled a catatonic state, face still in his hands. "They were all twenty-one or twenty-two around the time that happened, so eighteen years after that, Mum and Dad would have been about thirty-nine or forty."

"Just like Uncle Christian," Aaron said. "And if Reed and Renee had Sydney when they were thirty-three, that means that this should have happened when he was at least seven years old, when Patrick and Noah were twelve, when Riley, Rhuben, Crystal, Zack, Cody, Bailey, Max, and Tapeworm were fourteen."

"So when we first awakened," Zack said. His fingers fluttered at his sides and his feet would periodically bang together. Probably to be sure they were still there. As relaxed as he was, he still didn't like being strapped to a cold table and used in some sort of an experiment where he wasn't sure of the adverse effects of it.

"Exactly."

Bailey scratched the back of her head. It was still hard for her to think about what they had been doing since they were fourteen. When she was fourteen years old, she was working on the farm; doing her daily chores, dating Moose whenever she got the chance, hanging out with her friends, tending to the animals, and doing it all over again the next day. When she wasn't in school, leaning as much of the world as she could, she was working the farm. Then there were these guys, who had gone through so much more than she could ever imagine within that year alone as opposed to when she had met them.

She remembered the first day she had figured out what elementals were. Koto and Reihu had attacked the ship under the rules of Wingz Corp…then all of that had been thrown out the water and they continued to get more questions than answers at every turn they took.

"Which brings me to my theory," Aaron said. "That the prophecy would have been fulfilled and the two worlds would have gone back to their regular harmonious lives…if they were still alive."

Zack shifted his arms and legs once more. His body was beginning to grow numb. He could feel his wrists and ankles that were tied to the bed, start to lose its blood circulation. There was so much he could handle, but not this. He was starting to get cold and when he got cold, he got almost as sluggish as he did when there was a lot of sunlight. He soaked up the sunlight and heat and became lazy in a way that was comfortable, when it was due to the colder weather, it started to get dangerous.

He had toughened up, when it came to the winters in Boston, if it wasn't for the fact that he had lived there long enough before he awakened to get used to it. But this was starting to feel bad.

"Guys, can we move along here, please?" He asked. "I'm starting to lose feeling in my hands."

Diamond, had not reacted to anything that had been said. He continued to sit in his seat, waiting for his cue to start the machines. However, when Zack spoke, he moved into action. "We should get started on this experiment sooner rather than later," he advised. "Time is of the essence."

"I hope so, mate," Sydney agreed. He nodded at Aaron and then turned back to his eldest brother and Maddie. "Could you please turn on the machines and stand back here?" He waved an arm back towards his friends.

"You got it." Julius and Maddie made sure the electrodes were put in place then flipped the switch on the machines that were sitting behind Zack and backed up to the other side of the room. Aaron then made a motion to Diamond and he pressed something on the monitor that sat in front of him. He then reached over and did the same to Christian's computer, glancing at him.

He still appeared to be shaken by the news that his nephew and adopted son had come up with. Nevertheless, he sat up straight, gently patting his daughter on the hand, and then watched Zack, periodically looking at the monitor as well.

"His vitals are OK," Diamond relayed.

"Good." Aaron nodded.

"So what is it that we're testing, exactly?" Rhuben questioned. She shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and leaned forward, lips slightly pursed. She watched their leader continue to lie on the metal board, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Are you going to test the limit of his power with the stone?" Reihu added. He had been sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees. Every now and then he would run a hand over his face, as if he were grooming himself. "Don't you think that would be the last thing you'd want to test out? Wouldn't you rather see what the limit of the power would be, figuratively, by taking a blood sample or something?" He briefly shook his head. "That's what Core did with us."

There was a low, growl that had started to come from his chest, this one of anger. He had been taken as a kid and was tested upon by Core to be infused with the ability of an animal and it was the only life he had known. Every now and then he would allow himself to try and remember what his life had been like before, but then he would push it away and focus on his task at hand. Now that things had been turned around for him, now that he knew the truth, he stated to think about it more often than he ever had before.

"I'm going to do that that," Sydney agreed. "And we're going to try and summon someone." He cleared his throat. "We hope. Unfortunately we don't know if this is going to come good or if we seriously mucked up."

"You won't know until you try," Cody pressed. Sydney nodded again. Cody then rubbed the back of his neck. "Just…be careful with my brother."

"Don't worry, buddy," Zack called reassuringly. "I'll be fine."

"If anything does go wrong, can we at least have him come back smarter?" Tapeworm joked.

"Yeah, maybe then we'd be able to get more done rather than suddenly get thrown off into a battle after battle before we get questions answered," Patrick agreed.

Zack rolled his eyes.

"If something were to happen with his powers we still have Riley, Cody, Crystal, and Julius to help calm him down in some way," Aaron reassured them. "And Maddie can help heal us if something else were to happen." He walked over to his father and stood at his side, watching as the levels on the computer screen started to rise. At the side, there levels that were shown started to break down and rearrange themselves in letters, numbers, and symbols that were then read out loud from a speaker for Aaron to hear. It was too fast for the others to understand what was being said, but he seemed engrossed in what was being fed to him.

"OK," Sydney took a deep breath and walked over to Zack, who continued to lie on his back. His hands started to glow a bright blue. "I'm going to use my powers to see if I can summon someone from the Element world that may be able to help us."

"I hope not Mother Nature," Riley remarked. She absentmindedly started to rub her arm. "That was bad enough when the portal had opened, who knows what'll happen when she gets back here." She shrugged. "Apart from worldwide chaos, yeah?"

"At this point I think the worldwide chaos is the best thing that could happen," Rhuben remarked. "I mean, all of this training has to be for something, right?"

"Shh." Sydney shushed them and closed his eyes, hovering his hands over Zack. "OK, Zack, I want you to concentrate on the power inside you, but do your absolute hardest not to use it. I just need you to tap into that power, yeah?"

"OK." Zack closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. His eyebrows started to twitch as he frowned in concentration.

What was it that made him tap into his powers so easily? The threat of danger to his loved ones of course. That was the main one. The other was harder, he had to reach deep inside him to get to the point where he could feel himself growing stronger. Before having gotten the Element stone he felt himself physically stronger he could feel the difference between the way he had been before he awakened. He was able to run faster, jump higher, lift weights a lot easier. It was especially hard for him not to show off with his new powers. The excitement had quickly faded when he realized how often he was attacked by anyone in WingzCorp and realizing the responsibility put in it. The first time Blazen had been directly attacked and he could feel what his guardian felt was mind blowing.

He had become more careful since then, but there was always a place for him, mentally, to go to when he needed to. Now that he had the power of the Element stone all of his senses had immediately increased. He felt different things than ever before; he became drastically aware of a shift in the direction the wind was blowing. His eyesight increased even further than when he was using the abilities that he shared with Blazen, he became highly aware of changes in temperature, and his strength had increased even further. (It was a good thing that things in the base they were staying at were equipped to handle high amounts of pressure or else he would have crushed many doorframes and door handles just by grabbing onto them).

With his eyes closed, everything was dark, and then Zack could see the fire before his eyes. The same fire he saw moments before he completely tapped into his power and sent walls of fire in all directions. This fire was different than previous ones, it was bigger and stronger and in the center of it was a single flame that glowed the brightest red. It was like a lifeline, the weaker he got in battle, his mind's eye could see the strength of that flame growing weaker as well. Only a few times had it become close to going out and those times had been after he would unleash one of his biggest attacks.

/Zack/ SpiritSaru's voice entered his head as well as filled the room around him. /You're going to see someone, but you shouldn't be scared of him. He's nice. He's someone who wants to help us. /

/OK/ Zack replied.

/If it's who I think it is he can really help us. / Blazen added. /But I heard that he was only a myth, just someone that we all prayed to. /

/We have reason to believe he's someone we can really get in contact with/ SpiritSaru continued. /Even if only for a minute. But we don't know what will happen, so keep an eye out for Zack. /.

/Try and stop me/ Blazen replied firmly.

The fire continued to swirl around Zack and a dark figure appeared in the flames, coming closer to him. The figure continued to move closer and closer to Zack and the flames started to slow in their movements. Their quick paced dances became as slow as a waltz as the figure continued to draw nearer. Zack's first reaction was for his body to tense and shoot out the nearest flame he could, but found he couldn't move. That must've been what the medicine was for.

"I was wondering when I'd see you, Child of Fire," the figure's voice filled Zack's head. "I was hoping it would be sooner rather than later, but I digress. The passage of time is trivial."

/Who are you? / Zack had to ask telepathically, having found that he couldn't move his mouth. Maybe that's what the medicine had been for. Or maybe it was a reaction to the way the figure had come to him. There had to be something spiritual about him, something that Sydney and SpiritSaru had obviously felt. There were blue wisps of light swirling around the figure and behind him; Zack could see a similar portal to that of what Mother Nature had created when the arboris crossed over.

"Do not be afraid," the figure said. "I have been waiting for all of you. Though I had hoped it would be under better circumstances. As it stands, there isn't enough time. You've found that there is great need for you all now more than ever." The figure went over to the bright red flame and cupped his hands around it. Even though it illuminated the figure, Zack still couldn't see its face. "I have been in contact with you humans before, some of which were very pleasant and deserved to know of my existence, and then there were others that had used it for evil."

The flames around Zack were almost at a standstill now. They were moving so slowly he could barely see the flicker of the light they gave off.

"I had tried to help before, but I've never been strong enough to make the journey. You should know that there is of the greatest danger coming your way. Even stronger than that of Mother Nature's power. Even that of mine." The bright light started to increase in luminosity, taking over the light of the flames. "Be forewarned, you need each other now more than ever. More questioned will be answered, more questions given, but in the right moment, things will turn out in the most unexpected way."

/What does that mean? Who are you? /

Zack felt his eyelids flutter and the illusion was completely shattered. Opening his eyes, he watched as Sydney lowered his hands from above him, the bright blue glow rapidly dissipating. Cody moved to his brother's side and looked down at him in concern.

"Buddy, are you OK?" Cody asked voice hoarse. His eyes searched Zack's as he waited for his brother to answer him. Reaching out a hand, he placed it on Zack's shoulder, tightly holding onto him. His grip was cool, easily combating the heat that radiated off of Zack's.

"Did you guys hear the voices too?" Bailey asked.

"Couldn't miss it," Crystal agreed. "Sydney projected the voices into the room so we could tell what was going on."

"What was that flame that the guy was holding onto?" Tapeworm asked. He frowned in confusion. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"If our research stands by anything then it's the core of the Elemental's power," Aaron said. "But in this case that of a fire elemental. Just like the earth or the element world having a core that brings all of its energy."

Julius and Maddie walked up and took the electrodes off of Zack and allowed him to sit up. Zack ran his hands over his face as hard as he could. He needed to be sure he was still there. That he really could feel himself again. He then looked up at Cody and nodded at him. He was OK.

Cody smiled and nodded back.

"So what was that figure that we saw?" Rhuben's voice broke the silence. "I couldn't sense any darkness around it, but…I couldn't see its face." She frowned, that was the part that troubled her the most. She couldn't sense it and even the most pure hearted person had a little bit of darkness that she could feel.

Sydney's lips pressed together in a thin line as he crossed his arms. "That," he said. "Was Father Time."

He started to say more, but was cut off by a loud explosion rocking through the room, sending everyone off their feet.

A/N: Finally, the chapter that focused on Sydney and Aaron (and kinda Zack). Really, who else would be able to come up with something like this? Being able to (which I will explain later of course) take Father Time from the Element World into the real world so they can figure out how to finally fulfill the prophecy that has plagued them for the entirety of this trilogy.

Yeah, this chapter was dialogue driven, but it kind of needed to be that way, especially considering I like to keep you all in suspense. :) It may have been a bit confusing, my explanation for the prophecy, but I can explain it in a PM if it'd be easier.

I hope you guys liked it. I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles